I can laugh about this now but had a pretty infortunate injury on Monday while surfing at Broadbeach, after 1.5hrs in the water catching quite a few 2ft waves I was going to catch one last wave before heading in. I was positioned incorrectly on the wave and got ready to take off as the wave was breaking when I should have been paddling from a few seconds earlier while the wave was forming. The board went over the falls and flipped forward while I fell backwards, within seconds I noticed my boardies were completely ripped in the front and I feared the worst. After limping back to the beach I discovered a fin gash in my right inner thigh and a small cut on my right calf, fortunately "everything was still there" then later realised that the right side fin had completely come loose in the process.

Bleeding stopped fairly quickly and a quick visit to Polsy at The Ding Shop where had my fins replaced.

Feeling blessed that a few more centimetres and I could have been in a hospital bed speaking with a high voice.

Sorry but it would be inappropriate to post the pictures

Definitely not dinnertime viewing but it is a timely reminder that no matter how experienced we think we are mother nature and our equipment can turn on us.

This is the result of tangle with the 9' fin of my 12'6 in 1-2' surf.
Got rolled, I bail, board jack knifes, 10' slash. Ouch!



Fortunately I was close to Steyne Surf Club and the local crew got met out of the water into an Ambo and off to hospital. Thanks boys!
Over 100 stitches later I am left wondering HTF did I get caught out in such obscure conditions?